A new review finds low-speed autonomous shuttles have not turned out to be effective transit solutions in North Carolina.
The vehicles still include too many limitations to manage urban traffic settings, and travel at speeds too slow too satisfy most riders. These are some of the findings in a July 2024 report on the use of the autonomous vehicle (AV) shuttles by the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT). The study examined the use of the vehicles in the city of Cary and at the University of North Carolina (UNC) in Charlotte. Both pilot projects were part of the Connected Autonomous Shuttle Supporting Innovation (CASSI) program.
“Both pilots concluded that the automated shuttle technology is not mature and is not ready to be mainstreamed or scaled as a conventional transit service,” the report said.
The projects used shuttle technology from Navya Autonom, a French company. The shuttles were operated by Florida-based Beep. Shuttles like these are not yet authorized to operate on U.S. roadways outside of demonstration or pilot projects, according to the report.
This regulatory requirement serves as yet another limitation to deploying AV shuttles in transit fleets, said Sarah Searcy, NCDOT senior advisor for innovation with the Integrated Mobility Division.
The question remains, “what would it take to bring these automated shuttles, and to bring these services, into what we have established as our conventional public transit transportation system,” Searcy said.
The low-speed, boxy autonomous shuttles have seen numerous deployments in cities, office parks, campuses and other settings for at least the last five years. The vehicles tend to operate with a human attendant on board, since the technology — and perhaps the public’s comfort level with the vehicles — has not yet matured.
The use case for low-speed AV shuttles “is very narrow based on the specific technology choices this automated shuttle represents,” Searcy said, noting the shuttles use lidar technology for navigation and obstacle detection. The technology also uses a high-definition map of the area created in advance.
“That’s an important consideration. That’s additional work,” Searcy said, explaining how, in order to introduce the AV into transit service, the route must first be pre-mapped using a lidar system, with the data uploaded into the shuttle’s automated driving system.
“And if any critical features in the environment change, you need to remap,” said Searcy. “That’s more work than you would expect for a human-driven shuttle service. And it has to be considered in the planning process.”
And then there’s the low speed. The shuttles generally travel at a top of speed of about 12 mph, which can feel like a crawl to the rider who may be running late for class. The 23-week project at UNC Charlotte, which ran from July-December 2023, on a 2.2-mile route, transported 565 people, with an average of less than one passenger per trip, according to NCDOT data.
The shuttle in Cary operated for 13 weeks in 2023 on a 1.6-mile route, and transported 1,718 passengers with an average of 3.5 passengers per trip, according to NCDOT data.
The CASSI program helped reveal some of the limitations of what Toby McGraw, chief revenue officer for Beep, described as “first-generation, low-speed shuttles designed for research purposes.” Beep officials have pointed to an ongoing partnership with the Jacksonville Transportation Authority in Florida, as the evolution of autonomous transit vehicles. The project will involve 14 customized Ford shuttles equipped with Level 4 autonomous technology, capable of traveling up to 37 miles per hour.
“While these vehicles can operate without an onboard attendant, initial deployment will include human operators and humans will always remain in the loop for remote supervision,” McGraw said via email. Vehicles like those being deployed in Jacksonville reflect the growth of AV shuttle operations and technology, he said, noting features like Beep’s AutonomOS software platform, which provides remote human supervision to manage intricate traffic situations found in cities.
It also reflects an evolution away from the small, boxy low-speed vehicles, burdened with a number of limitations including lacking proper federal approvals to operate on U.S. roadways and not meeting Buy America requirements for incentive programs.
“Working diligently with regulatory bodies, these vehicles will be compliant with ‘Buy America’ and Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), and they are outfitted with high-performance software and hardware, including cameras and lidar,” McGraw said, pointing out defining features of the vehicles to be deployed in Jacksonville.
“While the CASSI shuttle operated at a maximum speed of 12 mph under NHTSA [National Highway Traffic Safety Administration] guidelines, the Jacksonville project is poised to deliver a more robust and scalable solution that better reflects the future of urban transit,” he said.
For its part, NCDOT is moving into the next phase of the CASSI program. The department issued a request for information earlier this year, hoping to understand “what companies, products, services are available for future testing of automation and transit,” Searcy said.
This could lead the agency to test autonomous systems embedded into more conventional vehicles — much like those Beep will operate in Florida. The state is considering an automated microtransit project in Wilson, which is already served by microtransit operated by Via. In this case, May Mobility, another maker of autonomous vehicle technology, would “layer in” the automated technology into the on-demand, microtransit vehicles.
“What’s great is riders could choose between a conventional vehicle and an automated vehicle. And they can provide their feedback, and we can continue the testing and evaluation,” Searcy said.
What is known, and what all of the data and evaluations have pointed to so far, is the essential need for humans to remain at the center of mobility systems.
“I would say that the ‘autonomous’ in the name is aspirational,” Searcy said. “What we’ve learned from the project is these vehicles are automated … but right now the human is really an important part of the system.”
